An overview on Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Many movements led by various leaders characterise the freedom movement of India. All these leaders had their ideologies about how to achieve freedom. The most prominent leaders associated with the Indian freedom struggle are Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose and Mangal Pandey. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the most popular leader of the Indian freedom struggle before Mahatma Gandhi. He was an extremist and used extremist methods to achieve freedom. He protested against the British government and advocated self-rule, that is, Swaraj, which means rule in India without the interference of the British.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Whenever we hear of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, we remember him as the one who gave the slogan “Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it”. He is also remembered as the father of Indian unrest. The title “Lokmanya” is given to Bal Gangadhar Tilak to honour him. It translates to being accepted by the people as a leader.

 He is considered the first leader of the Indian Independence movement.

Tilak was a strong advocate of Swaraj, which means self-rule. While the moderates wanted to form a government under British rule, leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak wanted a rule without British interference.

Early life of Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was named Keshav at birth. He was born in the year 1856 on the 23rd of July. Chikhali is the original village of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Tilak’s father was a Sanskrit scholar who died when Tilak was young. When Tilak turned 16 years of age, he was married to Tapibai.

 This marriage took place before Tilak’s father died. Tilak obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts in mathematics. He studied this at the Deccan College of Pune. Tilak took on a job as a teacher in a private school in Pune. Later, Tilak also took an L.L.B course and obtained a law degree from the Government Law College.

Later Tilak began to teach mathematics at Fergusson College. He left this job for political work.

Political career

Tilak is regarded as the father of Indian unrest. He is remembered as the one who gave the slogan “Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it”. He spent his career fighting for freedom in India. He was the most popular Indian political leader during his time. Tilak was a radical nationalist, and his approach was extremist. There were numerous times when Bal Gangadhar Tilak was arrested and had to spend time in prison. Due to this reason, he was called the father of Indian unrest.

In 1890, Bal Gangadhar Tilak joined the Indian National Congress. He represented the extremists in the Indian National Congress. During his time in the Indian National Congress, Tilak criticised the ideologies and methodologies of the moderates. In 1897, a plague was quickly spreading in India. The British army took extreme measures to prevent this plague from spreading, like destroying personal possessions. The public did not like such extreme measures. 

Tilak wrote articles about this in his paper Kesari. Due to the language Tilak used in his articles, Tilak was believed to have concealed the identities of perpetrators when the Chapekar brothers killed British officers. Hence Tilak was charged with incitement to murder. After coming out of prison due to these charges, he adopted the slogan, “Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it.” 

Tilak started significant movements.

The partition of Bengal enraged the general public in India. To protest against this, Tilak started the Swadeshi movement and the Boycott movement. In this movement, he urged the people in India to boycott goods from the British and instead make use of goods manufactured in India.

As Bal Gangadhar Tilak was prohibited from speaking during the 1907 Congress session, the radicals decided to break into protest. The 1907 session of congress gained a violent turn, and mayhem was caused. This resulted in the separation of the extremists from the moderates. 

Tilak was the first leader of the Indian National Congress to suggest the Devanagari script be accepted for Hindi and clear Hindi as the only national language of India. He also started the Ganesh festival and Shivaji Jayanti to bring the Indians together and show unity. As the approach of Bal Gangadhar Tilak was very aggressive, he had to face a lot of imprisonment in his life.

Conclusion:

The contribution of Bal Gangadhar Tilak to the freedom movement of India was significant. He had a degree in mathematics and also a law degree. He was the radical group leader and presented their views in the Indian National Congress. He wrote vehement articles about the British in his papers. 

Tilak started various protests and movements like the Swadeshi movement and boycott movement. Due to his aggressive approach, he had to face jail many times. Bal Gangadhar Tilak started the festivals like Shivaji Jayanti and Ganesha festival to instill unity among Indians